Girl · Hebrew, through Latin and Old French
Joan
Say it: JOHN
Meaning
Feminine of John, ultimately from Hebrew Yohanan 'Yahweh is gracious'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
By the late 14th century it was one of the two or three commonest women's names in England, before Jane gradually displaced it in the 16th century.
Its wave through time
A fashion of the 1930s
In the United States
- 486,987 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1932, about 1 in 51 girls
- 308 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Johan, Jone, Joane, Joanne, Joann
| Latin | Johanna |
|---|---|
| French | Jeanne |
| Italian | Giovanna |
| Spanish | Juana |
| Welsh | Siwan |
Famous bearers
- Joan of Kent, the 'Fair Maid of Kent'
- Joan of Navarre, queen of Henry IV
- Joan of Arc, French heroine
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
- Royal and noble genealogies
- Parish baptism registers
- Calendars of saints and name days
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.